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Mike Bohn's next CU Buffs football hire pivotal

Athletic director has successful hires, but has failed in the most high-profile sport

By Brian Howell Buffzone.com

Posted:
11/26/2012 05:28:13 PM MST

Updated:
11/27/2012 06:07:18 PM MST

University of Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn listens as former Buffs head football coach Jon Embree speaks during a press conference on Monday at the Dal Ward Center on campus. The press conference was to discuss decision to fire Embree.
(
JEREMY PAPASSO
)

Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn was on his way to the microphone Monday when he stopped.

He stood for more than three minutes, looking across the room as the man he just fired as CU's head football coach, Jon Embree, received hugs from teary-eyed players.

It had to be one of the more awkward moments of Bohn's 71/2-year tenure as CU athletic director, with dozens of football players making it very clear who they supported.

Bohn and CU chancellor Phil DiStefano then spent the next 30 minutes defiantly defending their decision to make a change in the football program less than two years after hiring Embree.

It's a decision Bohn can't get wrong this time around.

"No question," he said. "The pressure is immense."

To be fair, Bohn has plenty of positives on his résumé. Under his direction, CU kicked off conference realignment around the country with its shift to the Pac-12 Conference during the summer of 2010.

Bohn hired Tad Boyle, who has completely turned around the Buffs' men's basketball program, leading them into the NCAA Tournament last year and into the top-25 rankings this season for the first time in more than 15 years.

He also hired Linda Lappe, who has directed a turnaround of the women's basketball program; Liz Kritza, who seems to finally have the volleyball team on the upswing; and Danny Sanchez, who sparked a turnaround on the women's soccer field this fall.

DiStefano was quick to point all of that out Monday.

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"If you look at other coaches that Mike has had an opportunity to hire, especially in men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, there have been some extremely good hires; soccer," DiStefano said. "When I look at the athletic department over the last five or six years, there have been some accomplishments. Obviously not in football, but in the other sports and in academics and so on."

Unfortunately for Bohn, his tenure will forever be defined by what he does with the football program. Regardless of how many NCAA Tournament appearances Boyle makes with the Buffs, football is the flagship program in the department and Bohn is now 0-for-2 in trying to find the right coach.

In 2005, he fired Gary Barnett and hired Dan Hawkins. At the time, Hawkins was one of the hottest coaching prospects in the country for what he did at Boise State. That hire didn't work out, though, as Hawkins went 19-39 in five years at CU.

Hawkins was fired with three games to play in 2010, and on Dec. 6, 2010, Bohn announced the hire of Embree. During the past two seasons, Embree went 4-21, including 1-11 this year. It was one of the worst seasons in CU history, and the Buffs went winless (0-6) at Folsom Field for the first time in stadium history.

Less than two years after proudly introducing Embree as head coach, Bohn sat in front of media, current players and alumni and admitted he was wrong again.

"Obviously the athletic director has culpability in that and I recognize that," he said. "You can look at many programs around the country and sometimes it takes just the exact perfect situation to pull that together.

"In the end, I'm accountable for it, but I don't make every single decision on my own."

Maybe not, but he did make this one, and it was a very unpopular decision in the CU locker room. Some players have already said they will leave the program with Embree now gone. The murmuring of players in the back of the room during Bohn's press conference was hard to block out.

DiStefano deflected a question about Bohn's job status, saying simply that Bohn's job is reviewed on a yearly basis and "we'll continue to do that on a yearly basis."

DiStefano also said "it's not an exact science, as far as hiring coaches."

After missing on two football hires already, though, Bohn's job likely depends on his ability to find the right coach this time around.

"To be honest, I think we all have to get this one right," DiStefano said. "We have to get this right because it's important for the university, it's important for our competition in the Pac-12."

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